OXFORD United have not ruled out a social media boycott to raise awareness of online abuse, according to Karl Robinson.

Swansea City, Birmingham City and Scottish champions Rangers all came off their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for a week earlier this month, after several players across the country were targeted by racist messages.

Talks are understood to have taken place over a collective boycott by all 72 English Football League (EFL) clubs, while a similar move has been discussed in the Premier League.

Social media companies have been heavily criticised for failing to take a tough line on abuse and Robinson noted the problem extends beyond sport.

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The U’s head coach said: “We don’t feel these companies control their platforms in the right way.

“That’s not just within football, it’s within society in general.

“The bullying, the racism, the negative slurs on people’s physical appearance or mental health, it’s far too easy for people to go online and put fear, doubt and sadness into other people’s lives.

“It’s not just about racism and the colour of somebody’s skin, it’s about people acting the right way and being positive and respectful.

“It’s far too easy to be that person that can say something negative and be incredibly sad in their approach to another human being.

“It needs to be policed better and people feel there’s not enough attention put on that.

“For me, it’s the right thing to do so people see we don’t want this to carry on.

“Hopefully the social media platforms will have stricter regulations in place moving forward.”

Football united in condemnation of a proposed European Super League this week, forcing nine of the 12 clubs to withdraw.

United winger Rob Hall shared a Twitter post yesterday which read: “Now the European Super League has crumbled, let’s keep that same energy to rid racism.”

The U’s No 7 added: “I need to see it, because things aren’t adding up.”

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In February, the Premier League and EFL were among those to sign a letter to Twitter and Facebook calling for the social media giants to ‘accept responsibility for preventing online abuse’.

The problem has only got worse since then and Robinson said United have already spoken about taking part in collective action if the opportunity arises.

“We’ve had the conversation,” he said.

“These platforms were set up to give people greater connection.

“It’s only a small percentage who are that negative, but a large percentage use it for exactly what it’s there to do.

“It’s sad that they lose out because of the minority.”